Wednesday, March 07, 2007

10 Reasons Why People Fail To Earn Money Online

They fail to write a business plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Not having a business plan means you don’t have any firmly set goals. Along with a business plan you should have a marketing plan that clearly outlines your advertising budget and what you plan to do if something goes wrong.

They can’t stick to what works. Instead of having and focusing on a few affiliate programs that work for you, become a chronic opportunity seeker and hop from one work at home business opportunity to another. You never give yourself a chance to grow a single business.

They don’t know their business. People never get to know their business inside and out. They don’t know what sets them apart from the rest, how their business helps to serve the public and what strategies to use to make it better.

They put more emphasis on the “home” part of “work at home”. They are so caught up with the notion of getting to work from home that never they actually come to terms with the fact that this is work. In fact it may be one of the hardest things you ever you do.

They don’t put advice into practice. There’s a lot of information out there. Good, useful information to help you earn money online can be found both online and offline. Your business can take a 180 if you only implement it. But many people get information and tuck it away somewhere without ever using it.

They put web creation before content creation. They spend so much time trying to make their site “pretty” That they forget to add any real information to get browsers to come back. Your flashy welcome sign can only do so much.

They neglect their babies. It’s either because they have too many websites or they get bored, whatever the reason many people forget to revisit their websites and look at it from a consumer point of view. Do your links work, is your content up to date, is it easy on the eyes. Even if you have 50 websites you have to show them a little TLC every now and then.

They lose touch. They don’t keep in contact with their list frequently enough. It’s not as if your list is holding their breath waiting for an email from you but they did take the time to sign up to your newsletter, you can a least drop a hello.

They trade dollars for hours. You’ll never earn money online by trading dollars for hours. It won’t kill you to miss your favorite TV show or opt out of a movie. But many refuse to sacrifice a few hours of “fun” to make money online. They spend more time surfing the net for jokes and gossip than actually working. Quite surfing the net and get to work.

They don’t understand the concept behind the task If your promoting because its part of the job description your wasting your time. It’s not enough to just do things, you need to know why you are doing it. Otherwise you’ll fail to see the bigger picture and you’ll continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

7 Things to Digest Before You Work From Home

Before you jump into a work at home program you should consider the following:

There a lot of pitch pages that will urge you to buy and paint a very pretty picture such as, “make a six figure income working only 30min”. Do not fall prey to over hyped scams. This is not to say that all the programs you come across will be scams but there are a lot of them out there. Yes getting a great deal on a great product is well, great but you won’t know if it a great if unless you do your research.

What are other people saying about this program or product? Is there someone you can contact for more information, is there more than one way to contact them? A reputable work at home program offers more than just a program they should give support. You need to know as much as you can before you jump into a work from home program. This may become your business. You will need to know it inside out in order to be successful at it.

If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. A lot of times people assume hat because it is the internet you do not need to actually work. Some work from home opportunities suggest that you will make a six figure income for doing next to nothing. If you ever see a work from home program that say’s anything about you being a millionaire, in no time, without doing any work, turn away, it’s a scam.

The bottom line is online and offline businesses are not that different. People have to be buying your product or service or else you don’t make money. You could never set up shop somewhere offline and expect to make six figures a week without putting in the hours, advertising and promoting your business, giving good customer service, seeking new customers and looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition. What makes you think this is possible with an online work from home program.

You don’t want to reinvent the wheel when you are a complete novice. The internet is a fast paced instrument. Moving too far from what everyone else is doing can cost you profits. That’s why starting up with a work from home program that already has all the tools you need is ideal.

However, you generally are looking to work from home so you can be your own boss, have flexible hours and spend more time with your family. If your work from home program has you making someone else a lot of money but you’re not seeing a dime or if you are spending less time with your family than you hoped for, you may want to rethink working with them. Working from home can feel like another day job if the program doesn’t offer you the support you need.

There are a lot of free programs out there and many of them are credible and effective for generating an income from home. However, you need to dispel the myth that you can make it online without investing some money. It takes money to make it. This is not to say that you have to fork over a lot of cash in order to be successful but you do need to keep in mind that at some point you will have to spend some money if you truly want to work from home.

Working from home is a great solution for many people. As long as you do your research before joining a program and keep in mind that you will have to work at it if you want to be successful, working from home really can be the best ways to generate an income.

The 3 Top Ways to Earn Money Working Online

The creation of the internet and the mass production of computers in the late 80's changed the way we live our lives forever. Now, everyone has the potential to be their own boss whether you are a student, a stay at home mom or an accountant.

By doing a search on Google you will find countless opportunities to earn money working online. The possibilities seem endless. Below are the most popular ways to earn money working online along with some of their pros and cons.

E-commerce This is the start from scratch method. You register a domain and sell your own products from it. It could be an informational product, software, or a physical product such as a book.

Pro: There are many ways to monetize with this method. Along with your own product you can offer users affiliate programs and earn money with Google Adsense. It’s also often easier to market because this is your baby and you are more likely to know it inside out as opposed to an MLM program where everyone has the same home page and you aren’t part of the decision making when it comes to the growth of the site.

Con: This type of business takes a lot of time, energy and often, money to get set up. Profits don’t come pouring in right away. If you have a physical product you will need to find a way to get your products to your customers either with a drop ship company or on your own.

The real bonus of this system is once you know what you’re doing you can make a lot of money and you can find ways to do it without working as hard.

Affiliate Marketing If you got paid every time someone used a service or bought a product that you recommend you would probably earn a lot of money. This is the concept behind affiliate marketing. You recommend a site to visitors and then pick up a percentage of the sale that those visitors make.

Pro: This is one of the “easiest” ways to earn money working online. It’s easy in the sense that you don’t have to worry about having your own product or service and don’t have to deal with customer service.

Con: Finding a good affiliate program can be daunting. You have to keep in mind that you will be competing with other affiliates for commissions. Unlike having your own product where you keep 100% of the profits, you only get a portion so you have to sell a lot of products to earn the kind of money that online gurus brag about.

As long as you actively promote your products and stay ahead of your competition you should find this to be a satisfying way to earn money online

Getting paid to do surveys/read emails Your opinion really can count for two cents. Surveys and emails arrive in your inbox and each time you complete one you get a reward. It could be in the form of cash or points. Most times you will receive a free sample or an entry into a draw for a cash prize.

Pro: This method of earning money online has the most appeal for many work at home beginners. You don’t need a product, you don’t need to promote, you don’t even need a website. You simply read e-mails and complete surveys.

Con: You have to read a lot of emails and complete tons of surveys to earn any real cash. Many of these “read emails and get paid” programs pay you in cents. And although you can earn up to $100 for a survey the chances of you getting one of those is slim and they are extremely long. You are more likely to get a survey invitation that pays $3.00. Or you may only receive a coupon for a survey that took 30min of your time.

Can You Really Make A Six-Figure Income Online

Can you really make a six-figure income online? The short answer is yes, however chances are you will not generate this type of income overnight. As you search for the right internet business, you will run into hundreds of sites offering you the “secret” of making millions as you sleep. If it were that easy, everyone who is willing to pay the cost of learning the “secret” would be an instant millionaire.

Fortunately, there is no limit to your online earning potential as long as you are willing to invest the time to weed through the hype and learn effective wealth building techniques. The good news is that you do not have to master every aspect of wealth building to start earning an income. By learning just one wealth building technique, you can begin generating an income. Once you start generating an income move on to learning the next technique to increase your earning potential. The more you learn the more you will earn. Learn something new each week and applying it to your online business to get instant results.

The most important aspect of making money online is to have belief in your ability to effectively master wealth-building techniques, and generate an income. If you do not believe that you can be a success on line, you will not succeed. If you do not believe that, something is possible chances are you will not put the necessary time or effort into making it work for you. If you buy into a wealth-building course that you do not have faith in it will not work for you, as you will not put the time or effort into learning, or trying the presented techniques.

Another important aspect of making money online is choosing something to promote that you have an interest in. Making money online requires work but affords you the ability to choose something that interests you, or better yet something that you are passionate about; “Do what you love and money will follow”. If you have a passion for your work, it will not seem like work to build your business. When you show passion for something, you will attract other people who have the same passion to anything that you do.

Affiliate marketing has great earning potential and is a good place to start an online business affording you the ability to generate an income while mastering your skills. Today’s affiliate marketers offer low cost online classes with up to date techniques and strategies making it easy to learn and implement an internet business. Research and choose an affiliate marketer program to invest in your future by taking advantage of learning from their tried and proven techniques. The fact remains that there are more than enough opportunities for everyone to achieve success online and yes make that six-figure income. The time to start is now all you have to do is believe in yourself and take the first step towards financial freedom.

Driver's License Check – How to Conduct a Driver's License Check Online

Do you need to run a background check on a driver's license number or find driver's license records online? There are a number of ways to accomplish this task. In the following paragraphs, you are going to learn a few options for running your own driver's license checks online.

If you are researching your own personal driver's license records, you may be able to access your driver's license records for free (or for a small fee) by visiting your state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website or a local office. You may be able to get your driving records for the past three to seven years.

If you are a company and you need to run a driver's license check on an employee or contractor, you may be able to get information from the state DMV office too, but that varies by state. If that option does not work for you, another option is to hire a local private investigator. A private investigator should be able to pull driving records using your employee's name, address, social security number or a combination of all.

As an alternative to local private investigators, some businesses choose to go with online services that can provide driving records and detailed driver's license checks nationally. Often these services are less expensive than your local service, but most of the transaction will take place online. A few of the more popular services are DMV.org, Abika.com and BestPeopleSearch.com.

If you need to run driver's license checks on more than one employee, it may be cost effective to join a membership where you can run your own driving record searches. These services typically cost anywhere from $29 to $59 annually and they give you access to powerful public record databases and resources.

The downside to this option is you do the work and you are not guaranteed that you will be successful. The upside is the cost is low and you have the ability to do many other things including enhanced people searches, reverse record searches, criminal background checks and more.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Growing Popularity Of Internet Based Home Businesses

Before the explosive growth of Internet-based home business opportunities, the typical stay at home job involved the person providing a service to the local or regional community. Such a business still required many of the logistical functions of traditional businesses, like stocking inventory, mailing orders, making sales phone calls, etc. And for some, like a landscaping or delivery business, it also required owning vehicles, tools and managing a work force.

While those opportunities still exist today, the increasing use of the internet has also opened another business avenue, the Internet-based stay-at-home business, where the owner never really has to leave the house. Many of the traditional functions mentioned above are no longer required. Material like e-books and software can be delivered to the customer by the click of a mouse. And even "hard" products like bicycles, CDs, DVDs and flowers can be delivered by drop shippers or wholesalers, thus eliminating the need for stocking and shipping. Business can be conducted over the telephone or through emails and the opportunities seem to grow everyday.

Anybody with a computer, or even just access to one, can own an Internet-based home business. Things like running a website, buying merchandise online from others who have a website, and re-selling it to others, has become extremely simple and automated. All these business functions take place online and the business owners never leave the house and neither do those who are doing all the buying. Working at home on the Internet has opened new doors, and opportunities for people who yearn to be a full time entrepreneur, or just to make some extra money!

So what kinds of people are looking for work at home opportunities these days? Traditionally, work from home businesses were often started by an unhappy worker believing they were not getting paid what they were worth or, for one of many reasons, needed to have more time at home. Many people wanted better working hours or hated their boss. But now, more and more Internet entrepreneurs are looking to supplement there full time income. For some, the Internet business will eventually become their full time pursuit as that home based income becomes more stable. Another group of people finding success with the Internet are people without a college degree or without any specific business training. Because of the turnkey and automated nature of many online businesses, functions that in the past required formal training or, at least, a rudimentary understanding of business, have become obsolete.

Today, many stay at home moms and dads are finding businesses that enable them to spend their day working as an affiliate for a larger company in an MLM or network marketing venture. They are working their own convenient hours, and still making enough money pay the bills - and then some. Being able to stay at home to take care of the children or other family member and still feeling productive has made working at home on the Internet an ideal opportunity for many. For others, however, working from home has enabled them successfully satisfy that urge for self-employment that flows through the veins of more and more people, because of the huge success being attained by many Internet entrepreneurs!

How YOU Can Make Money Online In 7 Days Or Less

If you, like many others, want to make money online, then you have probably already realised that you either need to have a HUGE mailing list or have your own product.

If you are starting out, the chances of you being able to build your own list full of buying customers quickly and cost effectively to see an immediate return are slim. So that leaves you with creating your own product.

Most people will automatically switch off at this point with a feeling of ‘all is lost’. This really doesn’t need to be the case. Creating your own product is easy, quick and very profitable when you know what steps to take.

What do all the 'gurus' have in common? They all have a product to sell. The most popular product online? That's information products. People love to buy information products, it saves them time and effort in researching on an overcluttered net.

So imagine how easy that would be if someone showed you EXACTLY how to pick the right topic, the method for creating products – quickly. How much time and effort would that save you?

How To Make Your Next Step After eBay A Leap Into Financial Success

For many businesses, both small and large, eBay is the primary source of revenue. By eliminating the costs associated with rent, insurance, electricity and other expenses that would normally be incurred as the result of opening an actual storefront, the appeal of eBay is one of fewer expenditures and more profit. But, what happens when a business desires to move forward and attract even more customers or simply finds that eBay has run it’s course and is no longer a profitable venture? In this article, you will come to learn some options that will help to make your next step after eBay a successful leap into business wealth.

After having sold on eBay for a considerable amount of time, many business owners build a strong customer base. If you are considering leaving the auctions behind, take the time to promote your new venture to current customers. This means including a business card or other free promotional item in each eBay shipment that you send in an effort to let shoppers know where they can find your product(s) in the future.

If you are a jewelry or clothing designer, or any other type of inventor, consider marketing your product to retailers. If you already have loyal customers, they will help to make this venture successful by purchasing your items wherever they are available.

For those who still desire the world of auctions, but simply wish to branch out beyond the world of eBay, there are several other options. Popular online sites uBid and Bidz allow businesses to list and sell products via their website in exchange for a fee. With a large presence, both of these companies stand to add considerably to any business’s bottom line.

If your desire has always been to open an actual storefront and you understand all of the expenses involved, perhaps eBay has served as a stepping stone to help you save the cash needed to launch your local business venture. If that’s the case, go for it. All new businesses need publicity and it will benefit you greatly to take advantage of as much free or low cost promotion as you possibly can. This includes distributing press releases to local newspapers and magazines, hosting contests, giving away free prizes via local radio stations, promoting discounts and special sales to entice potential customers into your store, etc.

Because the internet is a haven for buyers and sellers alike, every business needs a website. If you have been participating in eBay auctions as a seller and do not already have a website, this may be the next viable step for you to take. This is a very affordable approach to reaching a world of potential customers with very little out-of-pocket expense. Internet promotion can be done by distributing press releases to online websites specifically designed for news distribution, local and/or national media or with the help of a mailing list.

Whether you are leaving the auctions behind or simply looking for a way to attract new buyers, there is a whole world of customers out there just waiting to be discovered. If you are able to tap into a successful market, your next step after eBay will be a big one.

What's Your Motivation?

Just the other day I was asked by a family why I spend so many hours on my website and now my blog. At first I was sort of offended by the question. But the longer I thought about it the more it made me realize why I am so passionate about what I do.

I later shared with my wife the details of the thought process I had gone through after being asked that question and I explained to her that few people do what they do for a living because they are passionate about it. When I get an idea for reaching out to more people and improving the quality of their lives through my site I can't wait to sit down at my computer and make it happen.

As she listened intently I reminded her of a movie we had watched with our kids called "Facing the Giants" in which a football coach at a Christian high school was facing tremendous pressure internally as well as externally as a result of his teams inability to put together a winning season during the previous 6 years. Many of the parents wanted the guy tossed out.

One night as he is leaving the school building he overhears the comments of parents who have called a meeting specifically to discuss how they should get rid of the coach and bring in someone new. Well, as you can imagine this guy was shocked and went home extremely discouraged. He spends the night beating himself up over the matter. As his wife wakes up in the middle of the night to find him in this state of mind she reminds him that he simply needs to put his faith in God.

Well, that morning he is seen walking in an open field with Bible in hand and praying to God. What this coach did not realize was that there was an older gentleman who had spent years walking the halls of the school and praying for all the students and teachers. Later that day this gentleman walks into the coach's office and tells him a story about 2 landowners who had been praying for rain because there had been a drought in the area for years. One finally decides that he is going to go out into his field and sow his seed even though there was no visible sign of rain. The gentlemen then asks the coach, "which man do you think received the rain?", to which the coach replies "the one who went out and planted seed in preparation for the rain".

I share this story with you today to ask you, "what is your motivation?". Are you willing to go out everyday and sow seed in your field in preparation for the rain? Unless you're living out in death valley at some point you will get some rain.

In this business called internet marketing, online marketing, blogging, e-commerce or whatever you want to call it, you will go through a period where it seems that all your work is for nothing. You have to know that if you are putting into place all the required elements for a successful business that you are actually "getting your field ready for the rain". When the rain comes you will be ready to reap a bountiful harvest.

Everyday I go out into my field and pull weeds and plant more seed. I don't worry about seeing immediate results. If making money is your only motivation then you'll soon be frustrated and quit. You should be working your blog or website because you enjoy it. You have to be driven by something much deeper. The money is just the frosting on the cake. My cake is that I get to communicate with people that I would otherwise have never met and I get the chance to help them live out their dream with my tips and encouragement. I help them become more satisfied individuals. Thats my passion. That's my motivation.

3 Proven Ways to Make Money with a Website

Here are just a few of the many things you can do in order to make money with your website.

1. Put Google Adsense ads on your site: Google is not just an awesome search engine, it is an advertising monster. Google has a very popular advertising program called ‘Google Adsense’. The way it works is you sign up for an account, select the layout, size etc. of the ads you would like to display on your site and paste a simple code that they provide to you on your site. This code will display ads on your site that will be relevant to your sites topic. Every time your site visitors click on the ads you get paid.

2. Promote Affiliate Links: There are millions of companies out there that have a product or service to sell. Most them are smart and realize that other people will promote their product or service for them if they can get a cut of the profits. That is why most big companies have affiliate programs. To get started, just find a product you would like to promote and see if they have an affiliate program. If they don’t just keep looking, they are not hard to find. You just sign up and they will provide you with a unique link that you can post to your website. You will earn a certain percentage of each sell through your link.

3. Sell Advertising Space: One of the biggest factors that the search engines factor into their algorithms in order to determine any given pages quality is the number of quality links pointing to their site. This is why it can be very valuable to sell advertising space on your website. Whether you get a lot of traffic or not, many webmasters may be interested in purchasing a small spot on your site to display their text-link or banner. To do this, just do some searches on Google for ‘link broker’. There are several services out there that unit link buyers and sellers.

As I stated above, these are only a few of the many ways in which one can start making money with a website. Look into these techniques further, take action and stick with it and I am confident that you can be making money with your website as soon as today.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Xsitepro Versus SBI, which one is right for you?

If you are considering starting out online, you will quickly become overwhelmed with the choices available to you, and two popular options will most likely surface.

Xsitepro and Site Build It.

It seems everybody has their own opinion, and only they are right. SBI’ers as the Site Build It fans are called (and call themselves) are very, very passionate, and I think this is due to the “internal” focus they have.

Everything is in one place for them and they stick together. Nothing wrong with that.I have nothing against the SBI club, they get good results and have a real community.

I will declare from the outset,I don’t own Site Build It even though I gave it consideration, and I will outline why in just a moment.I respect you need to make your own decision on what is right for you.

I have outlined some of the important facts to consider based on my own opinion and the topics I have seen raised in other places, all of which helped me make my decision.

SiteBuild It – A summary.

Site Build It (SBI) is an excellent product and has very good results for many users. Many of the sites rank well in Alexa. Ken Evoy (the founder) is a pioneer of the internet marketing revolution and produces some of the best and most sensible information available. His MYSS2002 (make your site sell 2002) was extremely well-priced and crammed full of excellent content.

He teaches the vital marketing method of C>T>P>M, Content, Traffic, Pre-sell then Monetize. This is golden information and worth following on your website.

Site Build It is a total package.

SBI includes (among other things) domain name, hosting, website interface (online), link exchange facility, research tools, “point and click” sales letters and forum support all for an annual fee (currently $299).

SBI will suit someone who wants everything in one place.Site Build It would suit a total beginner who has no wish or intention to learn each discipline beyond a standard level, therefore, whilst many Site Build It websites achieve high traffic and rankings based on the “content is king” mantra it does have limitations for the entrepreneur.

Many site build it webmasters focus on selling site build it to others in a multi level marketing kind of fanaticism.

If you intend to create more than one website and have maximum scope for flexibility you need to consider several important factors before you make a choice.

What is your level of skill and likelihood of improving your competency level?

Xsitepro will allow you to do more in the long term if you plan to develop your internet technical skills because you can start off using WYSIWYG then incorporate HTML and CSS disciplines later.

SBI is more about making websites that sell (particularly a service) and less about making websites.

Article Submission Software Makes Any Website A Star!

Article submission software has totally revolutionized the traditional methods of submitting article manually. Article submission or what is fondly termed as article marketing plays a pivotal role in the overall website promotion strategy of any webmaster. If you are not submitting articles to promote your website today, then you are seriously missing out a huge chunk of targeted traffic eager to buy your products, or sign up for your affiliate programs or list. This article will put you on a walkthrough in the world of article marketing and how article submission software fits in like a glove with this traffic generating technique.

Articles are your posters to the internet world, announcing your web presence. People submit articles to communicate their thoughts and ideas or introduce readers to their websites. A well-written article would pull in unstoppable traffic, while a poorly written one drives visitors away. But the truth is, unless you get your article out to as many article directories as possible, it is no use even if you wrote an excellent informational article.

Article submission is not the right way, mass article submission is. The problem with mass submitting manually to article directories is it takes ages, and is hardly an enjoyable experience. You would go through endless logging into article directories, copying and pasting your article at each site. It could take at least several hours to one full day to submit to 100 article directories, without the help of article submission software. Ask the old-timers and they would share their agonizing experience with you. But it eventually would pay off as they know that articles when given enough exposure to more audience would draw lots of targeted traffic. Some established websites syndicate content from article directories and when your article gets picked up and published, this could mean an unceasing stream of traffic to your website.

Since there is a demand for article submission service and no one had come up with article submission software, smart business people, mostly internet marketers started article submission services such as iSnare, Article Marketer, etc to help webmasters submit their articles. Good article submission services that provide top-notch service to their customers are still around, while some shabby ones just come and go. No matter what, there is a setback in using these services, that is, the cost. Such services either charge you a flat rate for a fixed number of articles to be submitted, or a quarterly subscription with a limit to the number you can submit. It can range from a few dollars per article to over $100 to submit about 10 articles. Unless your article is guaranteed to attract enough traffic to be profitable, it could be a costly exercise.

The beauty of technology is its endless pursuit of improving the way we carry out our tasks. Developers have built many article submission software to help us webmasters to expedite the article submission process. Some article submission software have taken article marketing a step further with full automation, and even allows for modifications of your article content. Many webmasters have ditched manual submission or subscription to article submission services for these tools. The robustness of such software and its one-off price tag are the main reasons why they are so attractive. Learn more about article marketing at my blog and get the latest scoop about the top few article submission software in the market.

Adwords Keyword Research Tools Can Dig Gold from Dirt

Adwords keyword research tools are indispensable to many internet marketers and webmasters alike. These keyword research tools have played key roles in helping many optimize their websites, and driving traffic and making sales. Internet marketing gurus would agree that these tools are instrumental in helping them build their income empire. The same is true for affiliates, whether you are a super affiliate or a struggling affiliate/webmaster. Let’s see what these tools do and whether they deserve the status as killer internet marketing tools of this decade.

Keyword research has never been more important today than it was in the past. Why should anyone perform keyword research? Experienced webmasters in the early nineties would share with you how simple it was then to optimize their webpages for top search engine ranking as compared to today. Pull up a web page, litter a few keywords here and there, and bring in some backlinks – that’s it! You have a winning web page ready to attract traffic. Today, with the increasing competition and the advancement in search engine technology, it becomes tougher to stand out for competitive keyword terms. Webmasters constantly face the challenge and need to dig out more profitable keywords – decent traffic, low competition keywords that have not been discovered by others for search engine optimization.

Pay-per-click advertising is an avenue for many companies or affiliates who either have long given up on the ever-evolving SEO race, or simply don’t have the time to devote to search engine optimization efforts. Keyword research is crucial for the success of PPC advertising campaigns, especially if you are advertising with Google Adwords. Anyone who has been marketing for a while with Adwords would tell you that keyword research is the foremost and most critical element in any campaign. One wrong move and you would be pouring money into the drain. Advertisers with PPC networks need to constantly find out the keyword trends and specifically profitable keywords.

Webmasters or PPC advertisers can either conduct their keyword research manually, or with Adwords keyword research tools. If you are a hobbyist and are building a web page for fun, then manual keyword research is fine. But when you are running a business, you simply don’t have the time to head to free Adwords keyword research tools like Overture Keyword Suggestion, or Google Suggest or Good Keywords to perform your keyword research.

Adwords keyword research tools like Keyword Elite, Keyword Analyzer, etc automate these tedious keyword research tasks, and make life really easy for business owners and webmasters. Many of these Adwords keyword research tools simply take the manual tasks a webmaster would normally have to do, organize them into simpler processes and replace them with automation. This gives you more free time to focus on building your business. Learn more about powerful keyword research techniques and grab a free keyword research book worth more than $67 from my blog.

Downloading Movies Online – What You Need To Consider

Downloading movies online is available to us at many places and all can be done while we are still in pajamas at home. Online movie sales are soaring and presumably would outrun traditional off-the-shelf sales and cinema ticketing revenues in the near future. The ease of downloading movies online and the widespread use of internet in our households have fueled the growth of online movies. Simply click a few mouse buttons, and the movie can be downloaded and burnt onto a VCD or DVD for viewing at our home theater system.

For you to start downloading movies online, there are a couple of things you need to consider when selecting and signing up for a movie website.

1. Format of the Online Movie Files

Please remember to check the format of the online movie files for compatibility with your DVD player or PC movie viewing client. It is safest to sign up for websites that carry movies in the DivX format as this is one of the fastest formats in terms of downloading speeds. Other formats tend to consume quite a huge chunk of your bandwidth and people have complained about how slow it can be to download movies. There are sites that are packed with ready to play movie formats and these are the most convenient places for downloading movies online.

2. Burning of Movie on CD/DVD

Depending on whether you want to burn your movie onto a CD or DVD, it is good to look through the instructions and notes at the site. Find out if they facilitate burning of the movies on CDs. CDs are cheaper if you are downloading movies online to amass a huge collection. But in terms of quality, DVDs are still way better and I would encourage you to get a fast DVD burner if you intend to create a special private movie collection.

3. Picture Quality

The picture quality is of absolute importance. It is going to be a huge disappointment when you realize that the downloaded movie images are so fuzzy that you cannot make any sense out of the show. What a waste of time and effort! Go for DVD quality movies as these are now available at several popular download sites. Downloading movies online should be an enjoyable experience. Don’t let poor picture quality ruin the experience.

4. Movie Selection

Make sure that they offer the latest movie releases. It is our duty as consumers to read the web content and clarify with the sites that this is so. There are sites that offer only old classics and movie hits in the 70s and 80s, while others provide almost any kind of movies, even home videos.

5. Pricing

It is good to look around and compare the prices of downloading movies online. Some websites will charge you per download or monthly subscription. There are also many others which charge you a flat rate to download unlimited movies.

Online Home Biz Help - How To Clear Your Cache To View Updated Web Pages

Have you ever spent time making changes to your online home biz website or blog only to find when you view the final web page in your browser it looks just the same as it did before you made the changes? Don’t despair!

If you have an online home biz and your own domain it is highly likely that you make regular changes or add pages to your website. This can be a time consuming procedure at the best of times and if you have just got your own domain or are new to html it can be highly frustrating when you do not see the changes you have made and simply cannot figure out what has gone wrong.

It does not matter how many times you click the Refresh button, the same old web page still appears and you begin to wonder if you saved the changes before uploading your site. In fact you probably go to the trouble of downloading the site again and repeating the process to no avail.

What is cache?

Every time you visit a web page on the internet, your web browser will store a copy of that web page, including images and sounds in the Temporary Internet Files folder. This is often referred to as the cache. You may well notice how quickly a web page loads in your browser the second time you visit it, if you have not cleared your cache. Conversely, once you have cleared your cache, a site will take longer to load the first time round as it has no previous information to access from memory.

How to fix the problem:

The reason that you see your old web page is because your computer memory is still holding the old cache of your website. To overcome this problem in Internet Explorer open your online home biz website in your browser and hold down the Control key on your keyboard and at the same time click the Refresh button in your browser. This will force your browser to retrieve a copy of your website from the network server without comparing it to your cache. In other words it by-passes the cache in the memory of your computer and immediately your newly changed website should be visible.

How to clear your cache:

It is advisable to clear your cache regularly, not only to prevent your browser from loading out of date information about a site or image but, because cache takes up a lot of disk space and will eventually cause your computer to slow down.

To clear your cache in Internet Explorer 7, simply open a browser, click on Tools, then Internet Options, under Browsing History click Delete and there you will see the options to delete temporary internet files, cookies and history.

You can adjust your settings to automatically clear the cache whenever you close your browser. If you are using IE7, simply go to the Tools menu, and click Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab. In the Settings box, scroll down to the section labeled Security (look for the padlock icon), and click to check the box next to the Empty Temporary Internet Files Folder When Browser Is Closed option. Click OK to finish. This option will clear your cache of other files when you close your browser, but it does not delete cookies.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Cloaking Keywords: What Did You Get On Your S.A.T.'s?

The rush to understand and appreciate cloaking keywords in officially on.

Just as a refresher, cloaking keywords merely involves finding more and more natural ways for your keywords to appear in your articles...thus making them more invisible to the reader and still very visible to the search engine bots.

Not everyone else out there even concerns themselves with the placement of keywords, but I definitely DO because the more and more software people keep coming out with better and more natural content generation software, the more exact the algorithm folks will make their searches for 'real' content. The more they will reward real writing of great content. Diligence will be rewarded.

It's going to happen. (If it hasn't already.)

And although at first glance it might make perfect sense to place your most important keywords at the BEGINNING and at the END of every sentence, those positions certainly have more of a 'spam' quality to them. By leading with or ending on the main points of our sentences, we call a ton of attention to them. And as a reader, it's almost thrown in our faces what the writer is weaving his way AWAY FROM (when the keywords lead off the sentence) and TOWARD (when they appear at the end.)

In advertising, when we see this, we say that 'your creative brief is showing' meaning you're being way too obvious.

Some people want to be obvious. And its fine to be. But I keep looking for better and better ways to write persuasive, content-thick pieces.

Now, what does all of this have to do with the S.A.T.'s? In my professional opinion...a lot.

Did you know that the correct answer on the S.A.T. tests is most usually the letter 'C.' Why? Because if the answer is placed as the first choice (answer 'A') or as the last thing the test taker sees (answer 'E') these answers POP more than they should. They instantly become MORE OBVIOUS in those positions.

So the test writers more often than not 'cloak' the correct answer amid the entire set of possible choices.

By taking a stab at placing your keywords in the middle of certain sentences, you make your keywords POP less. Thus making your keywords and your 'sales messages' far less obvious. Thus making it better.

Why do some webmasters prefer manual article submissions over automatic submissions

Article marketing has become one of the most popular methods by which webmasters are promoting their website or building a link campaign for their SEO activities. Loads of webmasters to save time turned to automatic article submission services or automatic article submission software to submit their articles. But there are a few who still prefer to either manual submit to each and every article directory or use a manual article submission service.

Now, why would anyone do this? This is quite a common question especially since there are many automatic article submission services out there and very few manual article submission services. Well automatic article submissions are generally faster and manual article submissions, well because they are manual take much more time :-)

But there are big advantages of manual article submissions. Lets take a look at few of the advantages:-

1) First it's manual and not done by some software which means if an article directory changes anything on their website, the person manually submitting the article will just see the changes and act accordingly. Automatic article submission robots can't do that.

2) Many article directories want you to manually submit the article and can even consider automatically submitted articles as spam.

3) If there are any errors or you need to change anything, its easier to make changes in manually submitted articles since for manually submitting articles you always maintain an account with the article directories where one can physically login and edit anything we want.

4) Each article directory is unique. Some accept links in the main article body, some don't. Some accept links only in the author box. Some have policies of having not more than 3 links in an article, some don't. Some allow HTML tags, some don't. The person manually submitting the articles can simply check what are the terms and conditions and submission guidelines of that article directory and submit the articles accordingly. Automatic article submission softwares cant do that.

5) Your article always needs to be put in the right directory. Placing an article in a wrong directory could lead to the administrator of the article directory to reject your article submission. In fact the categories in each article directory could differ from the ones in another article directory. It needs human intelligence and human touch to put the article in the right directory in each of the article directories.

Always remember the fact that each article directory is different from the other. They have their own rules and regulations. Their moderators or editors have their own set of guidelines which can be changed anytime. Any changes can be viewed by manual article submitters. Its no use spending so much money and then finding that your article got rejected from most of the article directories because some guideline was not followed.

Also don’t get fooled by the number of article directories that automatic article submission software submits your article to. Most of the article directories are PR0 and don’t get any traffic and having an article there with your link could actually hurt your search engine optimization efforts.

A lot of webmasters are realizing the above and choosing to manually submit their articles to the article directories that actually matter. Or you can simply hire a manual articles submission service to do all the submissions for you. Just make sure that they are 100% manual and not using any software.

Article Submission Software Says "I Do" To Article Marketing

Article submission software has added a new meaning to article marketing. Webmasters have a love-hate relationship with article submission. Some dread article submission because of the lengthy process of submitting manually to hundreds of article submission directories, others simply don’t have a flair for writing. But in both cases, webmasters still force themselves to do so because article marketing is effective in driving targeted traffic to their websites. This article would share some tips on article marketing and article submissions software to avoid the pains and grouses about in article submission.

Article marketing is a powerful marketing tool if done correctly. Let’s look at some tips on what goes into an article that entices visitors to come to your website and how article marketing can be a painless and enjoyable experience using article submission software.

1. Catchy Title

Spend some time to create a catchy title. Try to be funny and entertaining, yet not sound flippant or flamboyant. Compare “Article Submission Software Helps You Submit Articles” to “Killer Article Submission Software Makes Article Submission Easy as ABC”. Which one is better? The answer is obvious. A catchy title grabs the attention of the reader. Marketing research reveals that you only have a few seconds to entice your audience to read your article before he/she decides to move on to something else.

2. Informative and Non-Exaggerative Content

Write informative content to establish trust between yourself and your reader. Investing in good content is wise. Once you manage to get your audience glued to your content, you are one step closer to establishing yourself as an expert in the topic. The probability of your reader visiting your website dramatically increases. But please do not over-exaggerate. Be truthful.

3. Arouse Curiosity

Never reveal everything in your article. TV shows often end each episode with an incomplete scenario. This is how they hook you up to follow through every episode. Learn from them. Give enough “appetizer” to your readers and invite them at the end of your article to have a “full course” at your website.

4. Research For Facts

Stick with good factual content. People are always looking for specific answers and these answers are sometimes found in statistics and figures. There are a few places that are ideal for doing research for article marketing. Wikipedia, HowStuffWorks and Fact Monster are great sources of research material.

5. Hire A Ghost Writer

If you don’t like to write, hire a ghost writer to do so. Typically, a good article should cost you at least $5 and above. Though $5 articles are rare these days, there are some new authors who are eager to take on your article writing assignment to build up their reputation and credibility as writers. Elance and Scriptlance are excellent places to start your search for a writer.

6. Article Submission Software

Online Games - Business Model Overview

People of all ages and from all walks of life spend a large amount of time and money on online games, which makes it a billion dollar industry. Looking into the Business Model adopted by this billion dollar industry.

MMO Games (Massively Multiplayer Online Games):

Over the last few years, MMO games have taken the world by storm, success stories of games like WOW have inspired literates to write books and take surveys explaining the phenomenon. These games are played by millions and are bandwidth eaters, which do not bite cost but gulp it. MMO games are high expenditure ventures and need a lot of funding to continue with game development and server maintenance.

Critics argue that the state of art business model is still in a divergent state. Every author is elaborating different proposals. However, the current scenario supports the following business model.

1. Initial Game Title sales: This revenue ensures to keep the development momentum going and helps pay for the initial development cost.

2. Time Based Subscription Model: The revenue model is based on a simple fee, which gives unlimited access to the game during a certain period of time, usually a month, but with other subscription rates for three, four, six or twelve months.

3. Virtual Currency Model: Revenue model is based on selling currency for use in a virtual in-game economy.

4. Virtual Real Estate Ownership Model: Second Life® came with a new concept of MMOG. Their producers, Linden Labs, provide the infrastructure that is the open virtual word. Their expected revenue will come from subscription fees, in US dollars, and land taxes, in Linden dollars (the in-game currency). These Linden dollars (L$) that can be traded for real money, at a variable rate, depending on the law of supply and demand.

Interesting News ( a fact on the value adding within the Game itself – which eventually adds to the capital of the game producers – taxes paid on the property worth) : http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162315.html

5. Brand merchandising: MMO’s are also involved in selling branded products to fans and user alike for a profit consideration.

6. Paid sponsorship for product promotion: Companies are using the MMO platform to promote their products for a consideration of promoting their products within the MMO community.(growing in millions) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1175367493081978705

7. Expansion: Expansion is added to make money on user up gradation and also ensure a continued interest in the games.

101 muscular ways to get more targeted traffic to your sites/blogs today!

I decided to put together a blog post about traffic because whatever you are doing online you have to get traffic…. period. If you are not getting traffic, then there is no way you can monetize off your site. Therefore, I decided to put together a blog post for all you freebie seekers :). Some of these techniques you may already know which is great. However, are you applying them? If not then when will you? You just have to stop being lazy and actually apply these techniques ;).Implement this techniques on your website and make hope to make money online more stronger, Okay, so here is the list, hope you enjoy. If you feel that this blog post will help anyone then feel free to pass it around, but the article must remain in tact the way it is, enjoy.

101 ways to get more traffic

1. Write and submit articles :). It is a classic, but it works. This will be indefinite traffic stuck in the search engines for you. Write quality unique articles, not articles that are rehashed or provide no insight to readers, which is a huge problem these days.

2. Write and submit press releases, think prweb after you do one.

3. Write and ping blog entries. Always make sure to link back to your website with your blog posts. Try making multiple blogs and have them all link back to one main site.

4. Make sure your website is listed in: DMOZ : http://dmoz.org/

5. Advertise your website in the appropriate categories at Craigslist. Try posting your ads in the most populated cities in the world.

6. If a niche related forum that you frequently visit allows signatures, then make sure to add your website url in there.

7. Make sure to view related products on Amazon.com. You can try and take some customers from your competitors here by providing your own url if the product is similar.

8. Review websites in your niche on Alexa to try to take some of their traffic by including a reference back to your site.

9. Review some related products on epinion.

10. If you purchase a product that you actually like, then feel free to give an individual respect when respect is due and leave a testimonial. You should be able to get some traffic from that website if your testimonial is left with a url.

11. Whenever you send an email to someone, always add your website url as a signature.

12. Keep updating content on your websites/blogs… try at least once per week.

13. Tag blog posts at social bookmarking sites, especially at http://del.icio.us/.

14. Add photos to your blog with appropriate keywords.

15. Tag blog photos at Flickr.

16. Politely ask your readers to subscribe to your rss feeds.

17. Try coining your own term. Might want to trademark it if you smell that it will become popular.

18. Encourage readers to comment on your blogs.

19. Include translation for your websites/blogs, especially in Chinese.

20. Do not be boring, write about something that a wide select of people would want to know about.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

HughesNet Is The High Speed Internet Service Provider

If you're like a lot of Americans you probably have a real appreciation for high speed Internet. Unfortunately, the better known ways of getting high speed Internet in your home or office aren't available everywhere. While high speed broadband cable access is a popular option, it's only available where digital cable TV is available. Which means that rural areas and most small town locations are pretty much out of luck when it comes to broadband cable. DSL is more widely available than cable, but it still varies widely in price and quality, and has the disadvantage of requiring land based telephone service- which eliminates it completely for anyone living off the grid or in really remote locations. Widespread wireless networks could be a good solution for many people, but they too have the problem of only existing in very limited areas and, because of their nature, have security problems to boot. So what do you do if you want reliable, secure high speed Internet access at a fair price that works no matter where you live or work? It's simple actually: sign up for high speed satellite Internet service from HughesNet.

HughesNet satellite Internet service is the versatile high speed Internet solution that's available to anyone in North America who has a clear view to the southern sky. That means the ultimate flexibility when it comes to where you live and work. With a satellite Internet connection it doesn't matter whether you're in the middle of the city or the middle of the tundra- you'll be able to get download speeds of up to 1.5 megabytes per second and upload speeds of up to 200 kilobytes per second. Compare that to a maximum download speed of about 50 kilobytes per second with dial up if you're lucky, and there's simply no comparison with the next most widely available Internet connection available. In fact, because it doesn't require a phone line, HughesNet is even more widely available than dial up service. And obviously a lot faster.

So how exactly does HughesNet satellite Internet service work? Satellite Broadband service takes advantage of satellite technology to send and receive data in much the same way as a satellite phone. When you request a web page by clicking on a link or typing an address in the address bar of your browser, your HughesNet modem will send the request up to a satellite in a fixed geosynchronous orbit above the equator. The satellite will then immediately relay the signal down to HughesNet (Direcway) servers back on the surface of the Earth. The servers will then process the request and send the web page or other document that you requested back up to the satellite, which in turn relays it down to your satellite dish. Once your satellite dish picks up the signal, the HughesNet modem decodes the signal and sends it to your computer which displays the document in your web browser. The entire process happens extremely quickly despite the fact that the signals have to travel thousands of miles through space to get to and from the satellite.

One of the major advantages of high speed satellite service from HughesNet is that if you ever decide to move, you can have the same great service no matter where you end up. While sometimes moving is necessary, it can be extremely disruptive and HughesNet can be one of the few things you can rely on to be the same when you set up in your new home. This degree of stability can be indispensable if you have a home based business.

For this, and so many other reasons, HughesNet is the high speed Internet service provider of choice for anyone who appreciates flexibility, quality, and convenience when it comes to staying connected with the rest of the world. Find more information about the current HughesNet Special Offers.

Seven Steps for Designing New Webpages

Are you getting ready to start a new web project? Or are you planning to create new pages for your current website? If so this article is for you. Here are seven quick steps to help you get started on the right foot.

The first thing you will want to do if you are starting a new website is decide what you want to your site to do and then construct a blueprint. If you are just getting started then you can find a really good tutorial over at http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial1.html

OK. Is your blueprint ready! Great! Let's get this show on the road.

STEP ONE - Create A Template For Your Website The very first thing you want to do is establish the look and feel of your site so you can keep it consistent on all the webpages. Just imagine the headache of building 30 pages of content and then remembering something you should have included in your design or realizing that the look and feel just doesn't fit the theme of your site. Ouch!

So, save yourself that headache and look at a few websites that are similar to what you want to do. You could even visit websites that offer ready-made-templates for you to use like http://www.freewebtemplates.com/ or http://freesitetemplates.com/

STEP TWO - Outline The Items That Will Change On Each Page Go through your webpage template and make note of the things that will change on each page. You will use this as your building checklist.

STEP THREE - Create Your Storyboard Take your ideas from the previous step and create your storyboard in a text editor. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Filename: Write the name you intend to give this file ( e.g., my-first-page.html) The best thing you can do here is to give it the same name as the keyword you are targeting for this particular page.

Title: This is what will appear at the very top of your visitor's browser. This should be between 60 to 80 characters long. Do not forget to weave your main keyword into the title at least once.

Keywords: These are the keywords that will appear in your meta-tag description. Type your main keyword first and then add in about four more similar keywords or phrases. Try to keep this under a hundred characters.

Description: Type a description of what this page is about in way that will grab a potential visitor's attention. Keep this about 150 characters long. Do not forget to weave in your keyword here.

Body: This is where you will actually type the content for this particular page. Try to weave your keyword in naturally once every couple of paragraphs if possible. Add links to the web pages you want you visitors to see. Decide where your graphics will go as well as any ads you will place on your page to make money.

Wrap-up: This is where you put your call to action for whatever you want your visitor to do...whether that be to click on your affiliate link...buy your product...or sign up for your e-zine. Do not forget to add a link back to your home page.

Pagerank and Page Caching in Google

PAGE CACHING
Google takes a snapshot of each page it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Practically every search result includes a Cached link. Clicking on that link takes you to the Google cached version of that web page, instead of the current version of the page. This is useful if the original page is unavailable because of:
• Internet congestion
• A down, overloaded, or just slow website
• The owner's recently removing the page from the Web
Sometimes you can access the cached version from a site that otherwise require registration or a subscription. Since Google's servers are typically faster than many web servers, you can often access a page's cached version faster than the page itself. If Google returns a link to a page that appears to have little to do with your query, or if you can't find the information you're seeking on the current version of the page, take a look at the cached version.

PAGERANK
PageRank (PR) relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important”. Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.

What is DSL and how can it benefit my home or small business?

DSL or xDSL is a group of technologies that provide digital data transfer over the telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop, but is now commonly referred to as digital subscriber line. The typical transfer speeds of DSL services range from 128 kilobits per second to 24,000 kbit/s. DSL technology was originally begun as a part of the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). ISDN is a series of protocals designed implemented to allow for digital transmission of voice and data over the telephone networks standard copper wires. This resulted in better speeds and quality than the old analog system.

Most Common Forms of DSL

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a form of DSL that enables faster transmission of data over these same copper wires than a standard dial up modem can. It accomplishes this by using the frequencies that are normally not used by a voice telephone call, in particular, frequencies higher than normal human hearing.

The drawback to ADSL is that it is ony effective over relatively short distances. The user must be within 5 km of the telephone companies Central Office. Once there, the ADSL signal is stripped off and immediately routed onto a conventional internet network, while any voice-frequency signal is switched into the conventional phone network. This is allows a single phone line to be used for both voice and data transfer.

The most distinguishing characteristic of ADSL is that data transmission speeds are greater in one direction than the other. This is often marketed to small businesses or residential users who are most interested in accessing the internet at an affordable price. It allows for higher download speeds, thus decreasing the users time to view websites and download files. This is not recommended if one has a need to upload large quantities of information or run servers that would require large amounts of bandwidth in the other direction.

Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) is a DSL variant that enables the user to have the same data transfer rate in both directions. This technology has a transfer speed range of 72 to 2320 kbit/s. The primary drawback is that you must be even closer to the telephone companies central office. A maximum distance of 3 km is all that is supported. It is also much more expensive.

Typical DSL technologies include:

High Data Rate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL), the first DSL technology that uses the higher frequesncy spectrum to transmit data

Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL), a standardised version of HDSL

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), a version of DSL with a slower upload speed

Rate-Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line (RADSL), A variation of ADSL that adjusts the upstream speed of the connection in an attempt to maintain a specific downstream speed.

Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL), An improvement on HDSL that Provides a faster rate of transmission speed. It uses up to 4 different frequency bands, two for upstream (from the client to the telco) and two for downstream.

Is Cable Internet Service your best option?

A recent survey published by the Small Business Administration revealed that cable internet service accounts for nearly half of the small business high-speed Internet market. The survey theorized that this may be a result of favorable pricing or quite possibly their access to home based business professionals. Whatever the reasons, it is clear that many small businesses favor cable internet services.

A cable modem is a type of modem that allows a user to send and receive data over the cable television network. They are primarily designed to deliver broadband internet access by taking advantage of unused badnwidth on the cable television network.

Early on, cable modems offered only one way broadband access to the internet. Most systems could only take advantage of the high speed internet access when downloading information. To upload information it was necessary to use a telephone system modem. Todays cable modems are considered "two way" and use RF (radio frequency) return paths.

Originally cable companies built their networks to provide cable TV services to 97% of residential users. This accounts for why so many home based businesses make use of this service.

With the advancement of cable networks capable of providing two-way communications, such as telephone services and high-speed Internet access, cable operators have expanded their reach well into the business community. In fact, estimates suggest that cable internet services are available to almost 75% of the business community.

So how does Cable Internet Service work?

Digital cable systems utilize Radio Frequency signals to transmit data over their network. To do this they utilize cable modems. These devices convert digital information into a modulated RF signal and then convert RF signals back to digital information. A single Cable TV Channel can support multiple data streams or multiple users.

Cable internet service refers to the delivery of internet service over the cable television infrastructure. The bandwidth for business cable internet service typically ranges from 3 megabits per second to over 30 Mbit/s. Residential service, although cheaper, only offers a range of 384 kilobits per second to 6 Mbit/s.

In comparison, DSL offers less speed and larger variation between packages. Speed and quality of service are far more dependent on the users location in reference to the telephone companies nearest central office or remote terminal.

There are a couple of drawbacks to this service:

All users in a neighborhood share the bandwidth provided by a single cable line. So, connection speed is highly dependent on the number of users accessing the service at any given time. Cable companies recognized this shortcoming early on. In most cases they have eliminated this phenomenon through redundancy and the use of fiber optics. It should be noted that all networks have a finite amount of bandwidth and are sharing this amongst a multitude of users. Because cable networks are spread over larger areas than DSL networks and, therefore take in more users on a single network, great care must be taken to insure good performance. Careful traffic engineering is being performed on cable systems so that data speeds are maximized as customers are added.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Search Wars! Battle of the Major Search Engines

It’s pretty safe to say that anyone who has a computer has at some point or another used a search engine. Search engines are extremely useful creatures. They have had a major impact on our society, I mean its pretty amazing that you can just go type in anything you want into a search box and get back information about it in about two seconds. Before search engines came along you pretty much had to rely on going to the library to get more information. With that being said the popularity of search has created quite a huge market. The advent of paid advertising has sprung search engines into a multi-billion dollar a year industry, thus creating some pretty stiff competition. Right now we are in the midst of a major war on the internet, with the major players being Yahoo, MSN, Google, and an upcoming strong contender in Ask. So you may ask who is winning this war right now? And why? And who will take the lead in the future? One thing is for sure the reward of being the king of the search mountain will reap billions and billions of dollars annually.

So what are these top gun search engines competing over? The answer is clicks, on the paid advertisements they present every time someone uses their search engine. If you notice when you use Google for example that at the very top of the page and on the right hand side it says sponsored sites. This is where people trying to make money online pay to advertise for their company. These prices range from nickels and dimes per click, all the way up to hundreds of dollars per click, depending on the keyword. So the main objective for a search engine is to get as many people as possible using them to search the internet. Just think about it for a second, the more searches they get, the more chance of people clicking on their paid ads, which is where they make their money. Now of course not everyone is going to click on the paid ads, only a small percentage of the searches they receive ever actually make the search engine money. However, with millions of searches a day it only takes a small percentage to really make a big monetary difference.

So who are the warlords going to battle here? And who is in the lead? The three major competitors are MSN, Google, and Yahoo, and Ask is fighting its way back into the mix of things with some pretty sweet search features.

As of right now Google is in the lead, they receive somewhere in the ballpark of 80% of all search queries on the internet. Google is estimated to gross around 3 billion dollars in 2006, all from just paid advertisement. Now you may ask why is it that Google is so far ahead? Well there are a few reasons. First, Google has the most advanced algorithm, which is the mind boggling mathematical equation that ranks and lists sites depending on the keyword. Trying to understand their algorithm is extremely complicated, Google only hires absolute geniuses to work for them. Second, is the brilliance of Google.com itself, which is their homepage.

What makes a Bad Website?

When you're surfing the Web, you probably only think about one thing when you look at a Web site: whether or not it's fun. Some of the website authors are wondering why there is a few visitors visit their site.

Here are some tips to avoid you from creating a bad website:

Before developing the website you have to planned first. Make a story board that will be your guide in developing the site. You must arrange the hierarchy of the most important links in the main page.

Most importantly, you must create a home page that presents a professional image to the world. Your home page would be the gateway to your site. It must look like a road map, the index and the table of contents that tells the visitors where to find the information they need to make them stay at your site. It would be the mirror of your company or organization. So, if the design is not good, that will be the the first impression to your company.

You have to figured out what are the important elements should be included on the page. It must have a unique and interesting content. You have to know who are your target audience and what are the things that will get the attention of your visitors. You have to think of something new and unique on your content to convince your visitors to stay.

Put significant informations in your site to give them a useful information that is appropriate in your site. You should be able to tell why a website exists, and what information it's trying to provide. If the purpose of the website is confusing or unclear, that's a good sign that you should look for a different site. The word must be spell correctly.

The design must be clean and stunning look that will impress your visitors. The design must depend on the kind of services that your site are offering. Avoid using of blinking text that will irritate the eyes of your visitors. Avoid also many graphics or images that will take long to load your page because some visitors maybe bored in waiting for your page to load. Use the text color that will be visible to your readers.

Your site must be easy to navigate. The buttons must be consistent on its size and design. Using buttons with different colors and sizes looks unprofessional. Make sure that when you put the buttons on top of the home page, they're on the top of every other page.

The site must be indexed by the search engines so you have to consider the successful page optimization so that your site will be given the chance to rank on the search engine. In order for your site to be sited by many client or visitors your site must get a rank from search engine. Read some information about Search Engine Optimization(SEO) to have an idea on what will you going to do on your site.

You must have a quick response to your client or customer and give them the service that they needed. Apply good relation with your customer. Give them a word of Thanks for giving you the opportunity to work together with their company.

Always update your home page so that the visitors will always see new stuff or different from your site when they visiting your site. This will cause them to visit your site frequently.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Creating An Environment For Innovation In The Office

The environment of the office coupled with other crucial factors acts as a determining factor in the overall thinking process and eventual reactions of your workforce at any specified time. The overall environment plays a fundamental role in shaping the outcomes of events and can result in desirable circumstances or deviations from the goals if not paid appropriate attention.

A normal working individual spends at least eight to ten hours a day in the office, not including the travel time. They pass the rest of the time engaged in the other daily chores of life. If you add onto this the travel time, accounting for the increasing traffic in cities, and the time spent in dressing for the office or preparing for the next day, the time dedicated toward the office could increase to twelve to fifteen hours a day. Now consider a situation wherein you are spending the chunk of your day at a place you don't enjoy. The environment is stuffed and managing office politics is more crucial than any other part of the day's work. Such occurrences only have a negative impact and do not leave a place for a positive attitude towards the regular day to day work.

All organizations irrespective of size or nature of work performed face this problem in different forms. The environment tends to demoralize even the most creative workers. High performers subside without any impelling force to gear up and strive towards new avenues. The only option that remains is looking for a new job.

This challenge has been continually haunting Human Resource managers, who, considering the stiff competition, are always facing enormous problems in hiring the right candidate. Complemented to this are the huge training costs. What is the right solution?

The solution is to create an environment inducing work and prompting rapid innovations. An environment that allows people to experiment and effectively utilizess the requisite space and resources is the perfect remedy.

Employees must be internally motivated to research and perform the required extra duties in addition to their daily work requirements. Some methods to achieve such an open environment are listed below.

Create an effective communication channel. Make sure that you as a boss are accessible. The channel should be two ways.

Create an effective reward system. The worthy must be honored.

Do not be afraid of experiments. They are the road to innovations.

Promote a horizontal structure to the greatest extent possible instead of various layers.

Impart individuality. Recognition is an effective motivation tool.

Organize cultural activities.

Eliminate unhealthy competition among the team members or employees in the same department.

Various organizations are taking extreme steps like promoting relationships in the work place and creating small team open office configuration. However, the exact requirements can be decided only upon understanding the work environment and existing culture.

Broadband Satellite Internet

Broadband satellite Internet has provided hope for rural subscribers who are outside the coverage areas of most Internet service providers. Most home subscribers opt for cable and DSL Internet connections. But in areas which are not under the range of the high-speed broadband connection, or where dial-up access is extremely slow, satellite broadband Internet is a boon. The technology has been there for a long time, but it has evolved in more recent times.

The connection does not use wire, but requires an intermediary satellite. Requests are logged through a home computer and a special satellite modem to a satellite dish, which is installed on the roof of the subscriber’s office or house. These signals are sent or received from the dish satellite to an orbiting satellite, which in turn sends or transmits information to the dish satellite at the service provider’s office. The connection speed is a little less in comparison to DSL and cable Internet connections. This can be a drawback while using certain applications, such as real-time interactive games.

However, does not affect web surfing and sighting. A lot of these shortcomings can be overcome by using a signal amplifier, to cater to external or climatic disturbance and signal locators, to catch signals faster. Some other problems associated with satellite broadband Internet connections are that the installation charge for the dish satellite and the monthly subscription charges are a bit expensive, in comparison to DSL and cable connections.

The satellite dish being installed outside on the roof is liable to damage due to climatic conditions like rain and high-intensity wind. The expenses required for setting up the right kind of infrastructure for the rural subscribers has been one more reason for the technological lag in this area. Despite all of these shortcomings it is the best option for those who are placed at a geographically disadvantaged condition, and the promise of a better future lies ahead.